# Formatting the output by line by line **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [August 28, 2023, 8:56am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-the-output-by-line-by-line/38380 "2023-08-28T08:56:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Veera](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/veera/32/4107_2.png) [@Veera](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Veera)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 8:56am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-the-output-by-line-by-line/38380/1 "2023-08-28T08:56:36Z")
Hi, My play book print the debug output as below TASK [Print the status of the server] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [localhost] =\> { “msg”: [ “Extension Message: Patching Successful. [ActivityId=xxxxxxx-1f8f-4e44-95af-xxxxxxxxxxxx], OperationResult: {"activityId": "xxxxxxx-1f8f-4e44-95af-xxxxxxxxxxxx", "sequenceNumber": 8, "inputStartTime": "2023-08-28T05:45:40.500520Z", "lastModifiedTime": "2023-08-28T06:14:43.449672Z", "extensionTriggerTime": "2023-08-28T05:45:53.268037Z", "osName": "CentOS Stream", "osVersion": "8", "action": "Patching", "actionStatus": "Success", "patchServiceUsed": "YUM", "errors": null, "patchDetails": {"rebootNeeded": true, "rebootStatus": "Completed", "maintenanceWindowExceeded": false, "retriggerCount": 61, "notSelectedPatchCount": 0, "pendingPatchCount": 0, "installedPatchCount": 98, "failedPatchCount": 0, "patches": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx=", "excludedPatchCount": 0}, "assessmentDetails": {"countByCategory": {"security": 0, "other": 0}, "totalCount": 0, "patches": "XXXXXXXXXXXXX==", "rebootPending": null}, "logs": "yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy”}" ] } I need to break the output like below Extension Message: Patching Successful. [ActivityId=xxxxxxx-1f8f-4e44-95af-xxxxxxxxxxxx] OperationResult: activityId: xxxxxxx-1f8f-4e44-95af-xxxxxxxxxxxx sequenceNumber: 8 inputStartTime: 2023-08-28T05:45:40.500520Z lastModifiedTime: "2023-08-28T06:14:43.449672Z and so on… ---
**Author:** ![dulhaver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/dulhaver/32/1061_2.png) [@dulhaver](https://forum.ansible.com/u/dulhaver)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 9:17am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-the-output-by-line-by-line/38380/2 "2023-08-28T09:17:21Z")
wondering whether **stdout\_callback: yaml** in the **ansible.cfg** might be doing that ---
**Author:** ![Veera](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/veera/32/4107_2.png) [@Veera](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Veera)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 9:22am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-the-output-by-line-by-line/38380/3 "2023-08-28T09:22:26Z")
Hi , Sorry … No **ansible.cfg** involved. After multiple filtering of (the output) I reached to this output. I want to enhance it further . ---
**Author:** ![dulhaver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/dulhaver/32/1061_2.png) [@dulhaver](https://forum.ansible.com/u/dulhaver)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 9:28am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-the-output-by-line-by-line/38380/4 "2023-08-28T09:28:44Z")
**no ansible.cfg involved** seems impossible to me. ansible --version | grep ‘ansible.cfg’ (in the location you run the playbook from) should reveal which one is effective. Or am I understanding something badly wrong here? ---
**Author:** ![Veera](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/veera/32/4107_2.png) [@Veera](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Veera)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 11:11am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-the-output-by-line-by-line/38380/5 "2023-08-28T11:11:52Z")
my ansible.cfg is a custom one which I am using from the same location and it has no more specific lines to format. $ansible --version | grep ‘ansible.cfg’ config file = /home/myuser/ansible/ansible.cfg $pwd /home/myuser/ansible/ $ cat ansible.cfg [defaults] inventory = ./inventory host\_key\_checking = False $ ---
**Author:** ![dulhaver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/dulhaver/32/1061_2.png) [@dulhaver](https://forum.ansible.com/u/dulhaver)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 11:19am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-the-output-by-line-by-line/38380/6 "2023-08-28T11:19:43Z")
so, my suggestion was to add **stdout\_callback = yaml** to the [defaults] section of that file and see whether the output suits you better. ---
**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 2:17pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-the-output-by-line-by-line/38380/7 "2023-08-29T14:17:13Z")
Could you please back up a step and show the debug task that’s producing this? If it’s just a string, then you’ll have to do some sort of pattern matching and replacement operations on that string. On the other hand, if it’s a data structure, you can do quite a bit of filtering and templating with Jinja2 to produce the output you seek. But without seeing what you’re starting from, there’s no way to make a reasonable suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![Veera](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/veera/32/4107_2.png) [@Veera](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Veera)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 2:34pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/formatting-the-output-by-line-by-line/38380/8 "2023-08-29T14:34:24Z")
Yes… My replies went partially uploaded and they did not appeared yesterday. I tried twice and it seems some glitch. Suddenly they appeared. (Not sure about its reported as spam?) I will share the full details …